Americans United - Shariahhttps://www.au.org/tags/shariah
enIslamic Idaho?: Gem State Lawmakers Reject Child Support Bill Over Fake Shariah Concernshttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/islamic-idaho-gem-state-lawmakers-reject-child-support-bill-over-fake
<a href="/about/people/ms-sarah-jones">Sarah Jones</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The Associated Press reports that State Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll (R-Cottonwood) testified that the bill would, if passed, subject the state to the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Family Maintenance. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>Citing fear of Shariah, or Islamic law, Idaho legislators <a href="http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/idaho-sharia-law-fear">rejected a bill</a> that would bring the state’s child support program in line with federal regulations. Their act may cost the state millions.</p><p>The Associated Press reports that State Sen. Sheryl Nuxoll (R-Cottonwood) testified that the bill would, if passed, subject the state to the Hague Convention on International Recovery of Child Support and Family Maintenance. According to Nuxoll, the treaty violates Idaho’s sovereignty and open the door for the implementation of Shariah law.</p><p>Eighty countries have ratified this particular treaty. None enforce Shariah law.</p><p>Nevertheless, the State House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee rejected the bill 9-8. And it appears the vote did not occur in a void. The Spokane<em> Spokesman-Review</em> reports that it came six days after State Rep. Vito Barbieri (R-Dalton Gardens) <a href="http://www.spokesman.com/blogs/boise/2015/mar/26/lawmakers-listen-statehouse-lunch-talk-true-face-islam/">hosted a talk called</a> “The True Face Of Islam In Idaho.”</p><p>Shahram Hadian, who deconverted from Islam to become a fundamentalist Christian minister, led the talk, and told lawmakers in attendance that Muslims actively sought to infiltrate the state.<br /><br />“The goal is not just to be left alone, the goal is to change the society,” Hadian asserted. “All that is part of jihad.”</p><p>“We must curb and limit Islamic immigration and stop the refugee dumps. Spokane is a dumping ground. They’re targeting Boise….They’re specifically targeting dumping in conservative areas,” he added.</p><p>Nuxoll attended that lecture, and so did several of her colleagues. It seems they took the lecture to heart – much to the detriment of Idaho’s single parents. State officials now have 60 days to meet with the federal Department of Health and Human Services and develop a solution.</p><p>“This is a new experience for Idaho. We have been told the federal support for Idaho’s Child Support Program will end if Idaho is not in compliance,” a state Health and Welfare Department spokesman said.</p><p>That means the state could no longer be able to use federal programs to collect and process owed child support. It <a href="http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/04/13/3749491_vote-by-idaho-lawmakers-could.html?rh=1">would also lose</a> a significant amount of federal funding: $16 million for the state child support bureau and $30 million allocated as temporary assistance for needy families.</p><p>Gov. Butch Otter supported the bill, and so did the state Attorney General. Both are Republicans, which means that legislators deviated from the party’s official position. But Nuxoll and Barbieri have reputations as extremists.</p><p>Nuxoll is <a href="https://au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/hindu-hullabaloo-idaho-lawmaker-objects-to-non-christian-prayer-before">one of three state senators</a> who recently walked out of a Hindu invocation in the senate. Barbieri <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/feb/23/idaho-republican-anti-abortion-swallow-camera">made headlines in March</a> when, during hearings for the state’s latest abortion restrictions, he asked an expert witness if women could swallow cameras allowing gynecologists to conduct remote exams. (They can’t. The stomach is not connected to the female reproductive system.)</p><p>These rogue legislators are also misinformed about the nature of Shariah, which is little surprise if they’re relying on fundamentalist Christians for facts. There’s no evidence that any domestic Muslim group has organized to demand that the U.S. government – or, for that matter, the great state of Idaho – enforce Shariah.</p><p>Some American Muslim communities do use Shariah tribunals to resolve certain civil matters. It’s legal for them to do so. Tribunal judgements are not legally binding; they carry spiritual weight within Muslim communities but are not recognized by secular courts. A Muslim couple seeking a divorce, for example, may turn to a Shariah tribunal for resolution, but that tribunal may only end the religious aspect of their union. A secular decree is still required for the couple to be considered legally divorced.</p><p>This practice isn’t restricted to Islam, either. <a href="http://www.bethdin.org/arbitration-mediation.asp">Rabbinical courts</a> in some Jewish traditions function in a similar fashion, and it’s common for Christians to choose religiously-based <a href="http://www.christianmediation.org/">mediation services</a> to resolve disputes outside secular courts. Religious courts can’t, however, take criminal cases, and the judgements they render may never take precedence over secular rulings. That isn’t going to change, either, thanks to the First Amendment.</p><p>Nuxoll, Barbieri, and their Shariah-obsessed peers might be unaware that other religious communities practice something resembling religious law. Their ignorance will cost them nothing, but they’ve created a crisis for single parents.</p><p>The First Amendment prohibits state and federal governments from enforcing overtly religious law, including Shariah. It also prohibits profiling communities on the basis of their religious affiliation.</p><p>The next lecture Idaho legislators attend should be a lesson on the Constitution.</p><p> </p></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Issues:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/issues/religious-refusals-and-rfra">Religious Refusals and RFRA</a></span></div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/idaho">Idaho</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/islam">Islam</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/shariah">Shariah</a></span></div></div>Fri, 17 Apr 2015 16:01:25 +0000Ms. Sarah Jones11036 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/islamic-idaho-gem-state-lawmakers-reject-child-support-bill-over-fake#commentsTennessee Intolerance: Legislators Propose Jailing Followers Of Islamic Lawhttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/tennessee-intolerance-legislators-propose-jailing-followers-of-islamic-law
<a href="/about/people/rob-boston">Rob Boston</a><div class="field field-name-field-blog-type field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/blogs/wall-of-separation">Wall of Separation</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-callout field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">A bill in Tennessee seeks to criminalize Islamic law. </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="prose"><p>In November, voters in Oklahoma approved a misguided state constitutional amendment designed to ban Islamic law – known as Shariah – in the state,</p>
<p>The fact that there was no effort to impose Shariah law in Oklahoma and that even if there were the First Amendment would prevent it did not sway Sooner State voters; 70 percent of them were apparently concerned about a coming wave of mandatory burqa wearing and backed the measure at the polls.</p>
<p>It didn’t take a federal court long to <a href="http://blog.au.org/2010/11/30/a-ok-judge-puts-temporary-block-on-anti-shariah-amendment/">put a hold</a> on this foolishness. U.S. District Court Judge Vicki Miles-LaGrange’s Nov. 29 ruling should have been a strong signal to other states to drop the anti-Muslim crusade.</p>
<p>Sadly, legislators in Tennessee weren’t listening. Two of them have managed to come up with <a href="http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110223/NEWS0201/102230378/2288/NLETTER01/Tennessee-bill-would-jail-Shariah-followers-?source=nletter-news">an anti-Shariah proposal</a> that is probably even more unconstitutional.</p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.scribd.com/doc/49501971/Tenn-Anti-Sharia-Senate-Bill-1028">bill</a> sponsored by State Sen. Bill Ketron and Rep. Judd Matheny would give Tennessee’s attorney general the power to investigate complaints about Shariah and crack down on anyone practicing it.</p>
<p>But wait, it gets worse. The practitioners could end up in prison!</p>
<p>Despite what some people think, Shariah isn’t all about imposing Islamic beliefs in areas like crime, dress and social customs. Much of it deals with purely religious matters – when to pray, how to pray, where to pray, etc. Under Ketron and Matheny’s bill, any Muslim engaging in these strictly private religious activities would technically be in violation of the law.</p>
<p>Matheny, who is speaker pro tempore of the Tennessee House of Representatives, told the Nashville <em>Tennessean</em> that he never intended to ban religious activities. He told the newspaper, “I’m still researching it. My intent is to educate and to look at it.”</p>
<p>Just a word of advice to Rep. Matheny: In the future, it might be a good idea to do the research <em>before</em> you introduce a blatantly unconstitutional bill.</p>
<p>The <em>Tennessean</em> reported the bill is based on model legislation given to Matheny by the Tennessee Eagle Forum. That explains a lot. The Eagle Forum, founded by Religious Right warhorse Phyllis Schlafly to combat feminism in the 1970s, has never had a good grasp on the meaning of the First Amendment.</p>
<p>So let me explain the situation to Ketron, Matheny and the Tennessee Eagle Forum: Your bill gives the state attorney general the power to investigate people who are taking part in purely religious activities, such as prayer. That’s strike one.</p>
<p>Your bill proposes putting people behind bars for voluntarily choosing to live by a religious code. That’s strike two.</p>
<p>Your bill promotes ignorance and fosters a corrosive form of hatred by singling out practitioners of a certain faith for abuse and harassment. That’s strike three.</p>
<p>You guys are out. Do your constituents a favor by yanking this appalling piece of legislation. Trust me, it’s better to pull it now than squander precious tax dollars on a legal battle later.</p>
<p>If you don’t believe me, just ask the taxpayers of Oklahoma.</p>
<p>P.S. <em>Mother Jones</em> <a href="http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/02/david-yerushalmi-sharia-ban-tennessee">reports</a> that the real force behind the Tennessee bill is a man named David Yerushalmi, whom they say flirts with white supremacist views. This just gets worse and worse.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.tennessean.com/article/20110223/NEWS0201/102230378/2288/NLETTER01/Tennessee-bill-would-jail-Shariah-followers-?source=nletter-news"><br /></a></p>
</div></div><div class="tags clearfix"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/bill-ketron">Bill Ketron</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/islam">Islam</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/judd-matheny">Judd Matheny</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/shariah">Shariah</a></span>, <span class="field-item"><a href="/tags/tennessee">Tennessee</a></span></div></div>Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:22:40 +0000Rob Boston2168 at https://www.au.orghttps://www.au.org/blogs/wall-of-separation/tennessee-intolerance-legislators-propose-jailing-followers-of-islamic-law#comments